Individuals need to take responsibility for managing their own waste, said the Safety, Health and Environmental Officer at Rhodes University, Nikki Kohly, speaking ahead of World Environment Day (WED) on Thursday 5 June.
Individuals need to take responsibility for managing their own waste, said the Safety, Health and Environmental Officer at Rhodes University, Nikki Kohly, speaking ahead of World Environment Day (WED) on Thursday 5 June.
She said waste management systems in Makana Municipality were not working properly.
Köhly said while Makana Municipality had yet to put into action a coherent waste management plan, it was not only the municipality’s responsibility. “We have to be conscious on an individual level as well. This includes businesses that use unnecessary packaging,” Köhly said. “We need to reduce, reuse and recycle.”
“[But] Makana Municipality should communicate more clearly about the need to reduce waste. They (Makana) have a waste management plan, but it is only theoretical,” she said. “There is a small working group, the Masihlule Project, which is working hard to improve the system.”
The Masihlule Project was born out of a concern for poor people who rummage through rubbish bags.
The project started in 2008 and is based at the dump site and gives unemployed people who are scavenging, an opportunity to have a reliable income through collection of recyclable materials such as paper, tins, plastic glass, and cardboard.
The sorters collect these items, which are then weighed and the sorters get paid accordingly.
The Masihlule premises have suffered a spate of break-ins.
Grocott’s Mail has reported on frequent uncontrolled fires at the dump site during the past year.
Meanwhile, officials have refuted rumours about the relocation of the landfill site from its current location, the Makana Municipal Landfill, which is to the north of Grahamstown.
“There are no plans to relocate the dump at this time,” Johann Esterhuizen, Assistant Director of Environmental Health and Cleansing at Makana Municipality, told Grocott's Mail on Wednesday.
Currently, Makana Municipality has a two-bag system, in keeping with the Integrated Waste Management Plan for Makana Municipality (IWMP). On garbage collection day, residents put out both recyclables in a clear, yellow or orange bag, and disposable waste (such as food) in black bags.
This year’s theme for WED is Small Island Developing States and the growing impact climate change has on the world’s islands.
Landfills are among the biggest producers of methane, a gas which is 21 times worse than carbon dioxide in terms of its so-called greenhouse effect and is a contributing factor to climate change, said the Institute for Waste Management South Africa in a media statement this week.
The Institute quoted the National Waste Information Baseline Report of 2012 compiled by the Department of Environmental Affairs.
"It indicates that South Africa generated approximately 108 million tonnes of waste in 2011, where 98 million tonnes were disposed of at landfills. Only 10% of all waste generated was recycled during that year," IWMSA President, Suzan Oelofse, said.
WED has grown into a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries.
